Didier Colin, Senior Director, Sales and Distribution, Trimble, CIS division
Excon: Here at Excon we have seen a fast-growing interest in our technology. In India, we see a lot of growing interest from contractors who have heard about our systems. They ask us; tell us more about your system. What can I do with it and how can it benefit us? I'm doing this type of project, using this type of machine and working on this project, so what would you recommend and how can I adopt this technology on my job site? Many OEMs are connecting with us and they're asking how they can improve the integration of your system on their machine to make it easier to adopt for their contractors and customers. So it’s a very interesting show.
Benefits of solutions: We globally offer productivity improvement solutions for contractors and its productivity improvement on a job site, improving the efficiency of machines and efficiency of operators. When you achieve 100 per cent accuracy on a job site it makes the job easier, more efficient for the operator with less fatigue and with more safety because he has the information and he's focused. They can double productivity on a model grader when everything is well organised at the site and of course he saves on materials, on cost, on fuel and of course reduces the environmental effect. So those are the key savings, apart from many other KPIs.
Rajan Aiyer, V-P and MD, Trimble, India and South Asia Region
Excon: It is a very important show for us. We've been coming here for the last 8-10 years and the biggest change I'm seeing in Excon is the number of people who are interested in technology. Technology was very miniscule if at all but now I'm seeing more traffic through our booth. The use of technology is only going to increase.
Technology benefits: Productivity increases and where you used to use three motor graders, now you can use one or two max and you can work day and night. You can work with less people, which means it increases worker safety and the environment becomes safer to work. Third, you're using lesser machines, less fuel and you're aiding the environment. The other impact we are seeing is in terms of using our technologies that people can be easily skilled in operating the machine. To operate a motor grader you need 15 to 20 years of experience whereas with technology even a fresh grad or somebody with a few years of experience can do as good a job as anybody as the best operator or even better in many circumstances and this was proved during COVID when a lot of experienced operators went away to their hometowns and were not available, but the project had to go on for some companies. So they had to take a fresher and put him on a machine and when they did, the results were astonishing because they were able to operate better than the original operators, by using our technology - that is the efficacy of our technology.
R&D centre in India: Why R&D in India? Very clear, we have the talent, skill sets, commitment, the passion to learn and there is a lot of positivity. So we are working on some of the most cutting edge technologies in terms of BIM technology. So there is a very supportive environment and beyond that the employees are very loyal. We have employees who have been here for 15- 20 years. So it's very easy to build a core team around that and maintain that quality.
Offices: In addition to Chennai, now we have Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Bangalore. Recently we added Hyderabad and are integrating them into the Trimble family. We believe that that has potential to grow. So we go where the talent exists.
2024: The construction sector will be a key contributor to India's economic progress and its journey towards being a $5 trillion dollar economy. With digital technology adoption across the construction work-flow, we will see the mandate in key projects in highways, airports, ports, rail etc, and expect further acceleration of digital transformation in the construction industry.
